Recent Viewpoints

Penna Dexter Thankfully, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, four-star Army General Mark Milley’s end-of-tour award citation narrowly escaped the Pentagon’s wokification efforts before it was issued. General Milley retires at the end of September when his four-year term as Joint Chiefs Chairman ends. On August 7, the Department of Defense issued an update to its regulation for joint declarations and awards. Change 5 requires that “gender-neutral” pronouns be used for the six most prestigious joint service awards….

Kerby Anderson We are a divided country, but it may be worse than we imagined. An article in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences discussed what is called “motive attribution asymmetry.” That’s a technical term for the assumption that your ideology is based on love and your opponent’s is based on hate. Put another way: we are the good guys, and they are the bad guys. They discovered that the average Republican and the average Democrat today are as divided…

Kerby Anderson You have heard most of them before. They are little phrases and one-liners that Christians (and even non-Christians) say in order to encourage you. You might be going through some tough struggles, and they remind you, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” At a funeral for a child, someone will likely explain, “God gained another angel.” And of course, there are the millions of people who believe that “God just wants you to be happy”…

Kerby Anderson The US Constitution reminds us that the responsibility for our government rests with “we the people.” In order for us to be effective, we need to know something about our government and our history. Citizens in countries ruled by dictators don’t need to know much since the major decisions are made for them. But we Americans should be educated and informed. Unfortunately, we are not well educated and informed. A study done by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship…

Kerby Anderson Although America is certainly a divided nation, the divisions between the various tribes are not as great as you might be led to believe. Yes, the social and political debates are loud and intense, but the fringe, rather than the mainstream, gets most of the attention. A study done by the group “More in Common” discovered “The Hidden Tribes of America.” The researchers discovered that a small group (8%) in the liberal wing and a smaller group (6%)…

Kerby Anderson The term “anti-Semitism” has been loosely thrown around for years, and has been used to label President Trump, even though he has Jewish people in his extended family. It is about time to give specificity to a real problem that has often been redefined and demeaned by misuse. At the core of anti-Semitic thought is that Jews are the source of many social problems and thus the Jews are guilty of everything. This is what is so crazy…

Penna Dexter Twenty-two states, so far, have enacted restrictions on performing so-called “gender-affirming” medical interventions on minors. Many of these laws have faced court challenges and there’s good news: Two federal appellate courts have upheld these laws. This legislation not only prevents young people from medical and psychological harm, it protects the rights of parents, who in many cases are not told by schools that their children are actively pursuing gender transitions. Should a school ever keep parents in the…

Kerby Anderson Jason Riley wrote about the war on meritocracy. In previous commentaries, I have discussed this disturbing trend to no longer evaluate students based on merit. Jason Riley, as an African American, adds an important perspective to this ongoing debate. While so many are criticizing Governor Ron DeSantis for a few sentences in a 200-page black history curriculum, there is a bigger issue. Just a little over a third (39%) of Miami-Dade County fourth graders are proficient in reading….

Kerby Anderson Humans are created in the image of God. That is one of the foundational principles in developing a biblical worldview. Understanding that key insight provides a biblical perspective on issues ranging from abortion to race relations to artificial intelligence. That is what you will discover by reading the new book, Created in the Image of God: Applications and Implications for our Cultural Confusion. The various essays are edited by David Dockery and Lauren McAfee. She was on my…

Kerby Anderson Maintaining any semblance of discipline in the public schools is becoming harder and harder each year. Daniel Buck acknowledges that “schools always have had to and always will need to manage misbehavior, and some students will push any boundary you set for them.” But changes in policies along with problems that surfaced after the pandemic lockdown make the current discipline problems greater than ever. One teachers’ organization reports that their members “have been kicked, hit, scratched, and had…

Kerby Anderson In one of her songs, Carole King asked, “Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore?” It’s a good question. People in America move around even more than when she wrote that song. I have discussed these national trends in a previous Point of View booklet on “American Realignment.” Americans have been moving from high-tax states to low-tax states. Conservatives and Christians have been having more kids than liberals and secularists. Those trends continue. For example, the states with…